One thing that locals and tourists explore in a town or city is its sights to behold, but behind the picturesque façade lays another ugly face of corruption that seems to lurk everywhere. Towns have been competing against each other to win the coveted title for the cleanest and greenest, but a town with a huge volume of garbage is just a living mockery of every town’s aspiration to become a liveable place. The plan for putting up a sanitary landfill has not been materialized and there are a thousand and one reasons the sanitary landfill never came to existence. None of these reasons seem believable considering there is budget allocated for this project.
Due to failing to construct sanitary landfills, the local governments will be facing environmental charges. According to Mayor Juancho Alvarez of Ajuy, in Iloilo province, they wanted to put up a sanitary landfill, but the cost of construction and the volume of garbage were just overwhelming. Alvarez also added that in spite of the presence of materials recovery facility (MRF) that caters to five of the town’s 34 barangays, the facility just wouldn’t suffice.
Aside from the huge volume of garbage in Iloilo province, Cebu province is also facing the same problem with disposal and according to Mayor Joel Quiño of Compostela, Cebu, the local government was taking all available measures to dispose of the town’s garbage. Quiño added that they do not have the estimated P20 million to build a sanitary landfill.
There are 50 local government units (LGUs) that are currently under investigation for violating RA 9003. According to the law, towns are mandated to put up sanitary landfills, recycling and material recovery facilities. The officials who failed to comply with the standards for solid waste management have yet to answer complaints filed by the National Solid Waste Management Commission on February 10.
Under section 49 of republic Act 9003, the fines and penalties for violation are the following:
“Section 49. Fines and Penalties -
(a) Any person who violates Sec. 48 paragraph (1) shall, upon conviction, be punished with a fine of not less than Three hundred pesos (P300.00) but not more than One thousand pesos (P1,000.00) or render community service for not less than one (1) day to not more than fifteen (15) days to an LGU where such prohibited acts are committed, or both;
(b) Any person who violates Sec. 48, pars. (2) and (3), shall, upon conviction be punished with a fine of not less than Three hundred pesos (P300.00) but not more than One thousand pesos (P1,000.00) or imprisonment of not less than one (1) day but to not more than fifteen (15) days, or both;
(c) Any person who violates Sec. 48, pars. (4), (5), (6) and (7) shall, upon conviction, be punished with a fine of not less than One thousand pesos (P1,000.00) but not more than Three thousand pesos (P3,000.00) or imprisonment of not less than fifteen (15) day but to not more than six (6) months, or both;
(d) Any person who violates Sec. 48, pars (8), (9), (10) and (11) for the first time shall, upon conviction, pay a fine of Five hundred thousand pesos (P500,000.00) plus and amount not less than five percent (5%) but not more than ten percent (10%) of his net annual income during the previous year.
The additional penalty of imprisonment of a minimum period of one (1) year but not to exceed three (3) years at the discretion of the court, shall be imposed for second or subsequent violations of Sec. 48, pars. (9) and (10).
(e) Any person who violates Sec. 48, pars. (12) and (13) shall, upon conviction, be punished with a fine not less than Ten thousand pesos (P10,000.00) but not more than Two hundred thousand pesos (P200,000.00) or imprisonment of not less than thirty (30) days but not more than three (3) years, or both;
(f) Any person who violates Sec. 48, pars. (14), (15) and (16) shall, upon conviction, be punished with a fine not less than One hundred thousand pesos (P100,000.00) but not more than One million pesos (P1,000,000.00), or imprisonment not less than one (1) year but not more than six (6) years, or both.”
